Halloween Wedding Ideas

Growing numbers of couples are choosing to forgo the traditional summer wedding in favor of a Halloween themed celebration. Getting married on October 31 gives you many options for creating an event everyone will be talking about for years to come.

Why Have a Halloween Wedding?

Getting married near Halloween offers several advantages. Fall weather is relatively mild in most parts of the country, making October an ideal time for an outdoor wedding. Halloween is near the end of peak wedding season, which means some venues may offer discounts for couples planning to get married in mid to late October. Halloween decorations are also very easy to find, which gives you lots of possibilities for creating a memorable event.

A Halloween wedding can take many forms. For example:

Casual outdoor costume party

Quirky event inspired by Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride

Vintage Halloween

Vampire chic

Rustic pumpkin harvest

Elegant masquerade ball

Steampunk wedding

Color Schemes

Obviously, orange and black are the traditional Halloween colors. However, you're not limited to these choices alone if you want to have a Halloween themed wedding. Ideas to consider include:

Steel, sage, pumpkin, and rust

Deep purple, black, and gold

Cream, harvest orange, and brown

Blood red, black, and white

Plum, green, and black

Plum, gray, and bronze

Wedding Stationery

Your save the date cards, invitations, programs, and other stationery items help reinforce the theme of your event. The Printable Wedding offers several Halloween themed templates you can customize for your nuptials.

Wedding Party Attire

While white might still be the traditional wedding dress color, a Halloween wedding lets you be a little more creative. Consider picking a dress with black and red accents or skipping the white altogether and going with an elegant steel gray gown or a black lace dress.

Consider accessorizing with top hats for the gentlemen and velvet capes for the ladies to add a Halloween flair to your wedding. You could also have the members of the bridal party dress in masquerade masks.

Ceremony and Reception Flowers

Black calla lilies, black baccara roses, black beauty roses, orange ranunculus, orange unique roses, and hypericum berries are the most popular flowers for a Halloween wedding, but you could also try making paper flowers from old book pages or sheet music for a Gothic feel. Add skull or spider brooches, black lace ribbon, or black feathers to your bouquets and boutonnieres for subtle finishing touches that ties them into your theme.

For your reception arrangements, try displaying flowers inside hollowed out pumpkins. This project can be adapted to fit rustic, vintage, or Gothic wedding decor depending upon the flowers you choose.

Supplies

Pumpkin

Pen

Knife

Large spoon or ice cream scoop

Cylinder shaped glass vase, tin can, or plastic container

Fresh flowers

Water

Instructions

Put your cylinder container on the top of the pumpkin and trace around the rim with your pen.

Cut the top off your pumpkin and scoop out the pulp. You want to create a space that fits your container snugly.

Carefully place your container inside the pumpkin.

Fill the container with water and add your flowers.

* If desired, you can personalize this project by painting jack-o-lantern faces or other designs on your pumpkins.

Other Halloween Decor Ideas

When choosing your wedding decor, you'll want to keep in mind your specific Halloween theme as well as the level of formality you want for the event. Here are some ideas to help you get started:

Give your event a literary flair by incorporating vintage copies of classics like Dracula and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow into your centerpieces.

Create vintage style silhouettes of the bride and groom, then pair them with a sign that says "Till Death Do Us Part."

Halloween Photo Booth Ideas

Photo booths are a popular wedding trend that works well for a Halloween wedding, especially if you've asked your guests to attend in costume. If you don't have a budget that allows for the rental of a professional photo booth, create your own by decorating a corner of your reception area with pumpkins and other Halloween themed decor. Add seating areas and props such as small chalkboards guests can use to write messages, large empty photo frames, witches hats, black silk roses, and trick or treat pails.

Wedding Favors

Although wedding favors are not required, sending each guest home with a small token of your appreciation is a nice way to thank them for helping you celebrate your special day. Consider these Halloween themed favor ideas:

Classic caramel apples

Sugar cookies decorated in Halloween designs

Bath salts in a DIY potion bottle

Pumpkin, leaf, or skull shaped scented soaps

Candy corn in a coffin shaped box

DIY S'mores kits using marshmallow ghosts

"Till Death Do Us Part" shot glasses with your names and wedding date

An Event to Remember

A Halloween wedding is the perfect chance to showcase your creativity, so don't be afraid to look for different ways to tie your theme into the ceremony and reception. These little touches will help make your nuptials an event to remember.